Year 2 Two-Day Writing Retreat 

18th Feb 2019 10:00am - 19th Feb 2019 4:30pm 

Venue: Royal Holloway, 11 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3RF

Booking: to book please email techne@rhul.ac.uk

This writing retreat is for technē students in the second year of their PhD (or third/fourth years of part-time study).

This two-day retreat is for any Y2 PhD student currently working towards a PhD stage (e.g. an upgrade, or submitting chapters), when writing can feel stressful and lonely. You must be able to attend both days.

Day 1 comprises activities designed to:

• air and share writing issues

• explore and overcome common writing problems

• stimulate creativity and help regain impetus and perspective

Day 2 will be timed writing sessions to make progress on your work, plus one-to-one consultations.

Katie Grant co-created the Advancing Academic Writing skills website for the University of Glasgow, where she was the Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow for three years, helping undergraduates, Masters and PhD students with their writing. A columnist, occasional broadcaster, author of ten novels (Sedition, her latest, is published by Virago), on the panel of judges for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, an occasional book reviewer for, amongst other publications, the New York Times and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, she runs writing workshops on improving the quality, reach and impact of academic writing for all levels of HE. Long experience of the practical, emotional and organisational challenges of writing for deadlines and for different audiences informs all her workshops. She understands from first-hand the value of getting writing done and getting it done well.

Anne Wilson has a background in journalism (features) and corporate communication (scripts, speeches, screen media copy), combining her writing with facilitating writing workshops in HE. A Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, she was Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Brunel University for three years, and now runs workshops on academic writing and professional communication for postgraduates and staff at Brunel and other universities. She also coaches students for the 3MT competition (won by Brunel in 2017). She has collaborated with the Brunel Occupational Therapy department to investigate what kind of feedback helps students to improve their academic writing and is currently running staff and student workshops on managing feelings about feedback.